November 13, 2018
A quarter of corporate global workforce could inhabit coworking space within five years
Over the next five years, corporate real estate professionals are set to dramatically increase their use of coworking spaces to house employees, according to a survey conducted at the CoreNet Global Summit in Boston. According to the results, the percentage of employees at respondents’ companies utilising coworking spaces such as that offered by WeWork (pictured) has doubled over the past two years. The survey was conducted by Cushman & Wakefield and CoreNet Global during the course of the three-day summit and was completed by more than 220 corporate real estate executives and industry service providers.
Only one in four organisations have adapted performance management processes to consider staff with disabilities and special needs, including conditions such as dyslexia and autism. These are the findings of research carried out by Acas which has today published new advice to address the issue. The research report entitled ‘Improvement required?’ included a survey, which asked employers about performance management systems within their workplaces. The study found that one in ten employers said that their performance management system was demotivating for staff; and only one in ten employers said that their systems were used for planning and monitoring training and development.
A sudden reversal in the growth in the number of both EU and non-EU migrants in employment in the UK could hit employer plans to take on more staff and worsen skills and labour shortages, according to the latest quarterly Labour Market Outlook from the CIPD and The Adecco Group. While the net employment balance – a measure of the difference between the proportion of employers who expect to increase staff levels and those who expect to decrease staff levels – has remained extremely positive at +22 (compared to +23 in Q3 2018), among employers which currently have vacancies, seven in ten (70 percent) report that at least some of their vacancies are proving hard-to-fill, higher than in Summer 2018 (66 percent) and Spring 2018 (61 percent). 
A new survey of professional, mainly management-level women has revealed a lack of support for maternity returners by employers. According to the survey by working parents website 
Figures from Macmillan show that almost 900,000 people of working age (16-64) are living with cancer – a figure expected to rise to over a million by 2030, while the HSE disclosed 600,000 workers needed time off in the past year due to suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety. Men are notoriously bad at checking their health but according to Bupa an increasing spotlight on issues such as prostate cancer and testicular cancer earlier this year led to an increase in male health assessment bookings. In March 2018, Bupa saw a 28 percent uplift in male health assessment bookings compared to the same time last year, and a 43 percent year-on-year increase in April 2018. But according to the healthcare provider, employers must more efforts to help create a culture where male workers can open up about mental or physical problems.
Over half of home workers say they appreciate the benefits that home working offers but nearly a quarter complain of loneliness too, a new survey from BHSF claims. When asked how working from home makes them feel, the top three responses were: free (50 percent), in control (47 percent) and calm (46 percent). However, a significant number of those surveyed chose more negative words to describe their feelings. Just over a quarter (26 percent) said that working from home made them feel remote, 24 percent felt isolated and 21 percent lonely. 
